Samir*, a youthful looking, dark-haired man of Indian descent, came into the store with a bag of 8mm film reels cans. “I’m here to view these film reels”, he explains.
We set him up on a desk with a film projector, and gave him a 10 minute demo on how to playback his Super 8 film.
Samir took the boxes of reels out of the bag, some had labels, some didn’t, some look very beat up, some in pristine film boxes.
I asked Samir if there was an event, a wedding, or a family reunion that prompted him to transfer his old home movies to DVD. Samir said, “Nope. I am turning 40, I’m looking for my father“. Samir went on to explain his father had passed away when he was 4. He didn’t have any videos of him except for what’s on the film. Turning 40 raised a desire to connect with this person who had gone away and missed a chance to see a child grow up.
He carefully looked through each and every film reel. 40 minutes later, “I found him!” I came over and looked, I wish his own family were there to share this special moment with him. As he cranked the film projector with his hand, images of a birthday party flew by. A 2 year-old boy posing with his cake, a beaming father behind him, hand on his son’s shoulder. In a faraway place, Pakistan, he said, and in a far-away time, 36 years ago.
* Our customer stories are real, but the names have been changed.
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